Matter is a

technical standard A technical standard is an established Social norm, norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and producti ...

for

smart home ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birming ...

and IoT (Internet of Things) devices. It aims to improve

interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader de ...

and compatibility between different manufacturers and security, and always allowing local control as an option. Matter originated in December 2019 as the Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) working group, founded by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and the Zigbee Alliance, now called the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). Subsequent members include

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...

, and Schneider. Version 1.0 of the specification was published on 4 October 2022. The Matter

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific t ...

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

under the

Apache License The Apache License is a permissive free software license written by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). It allows users to use the software for any purpose, to distribute it, to modify it, and to distribute modified versions of the software ...

. A

(SDK) is provided

royalty-free Royalty-free (RF) material subject to copyright or other intellectual property rights may be used without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use, per each copy or volume sold or some time period of use or sales. Computer standards ...

, though the ability to commission a finished product into a Matter network in the field mandates certification and membership fees, entailing both one-time, recurring, and per-product costs. This is enforced using a

public key infrastructure A public key infrastructure (PKI) is a set of roles, policies, hardware, software and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store and revoke digital certificates and manage public-key encryption. The purpose of a PKI is to fac ...

(PKI) and so-called device attestation certificates. Matter-compatible software updates for many existing hubs became available in late 2022, with Matter-enabled devices and

software updates A patch is data that is intended to be used to modify an existing software resource such as a program or a file, often to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. A patch may be created to improve functionality, usability, or performance. A pa ...

starting to release in 2023.

Background

In December 2019, Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung

SmartThings SmartThings Inc. is an American home automation company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Since August 2014 it is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. Founded in 2012, it focuses on the development of eponymous automation software and ...

and the

Zigbee Zigbee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios, such as for home automation, medical device data collection, and oth ...

Alliance announced the collaboration and formation of the working group of Project Connected Home over IP. The goal of the project is to simplify development for smart home product brands and manufacturers while increasing the compatibility of the products for consumers. The standard operates on

Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. IP ...

(IP) and functions via one or more controllers that connect and manage devices within your local network, eliminating the need for multiple proprietary hubs. Matter-certified products are engineered to operate locally and do not depend on an internet connection for their core functions. Leveraging

IPv6 address An Internet Protocol version 6 address (IPv6 address) is a numeric label that is used to identify and locate a network interface of a computer or a Node (networking), network node participating in a computer network using IPv6. IP addresses are ...

ing, the standard facilitates seamless communication with cloud services. Its goal is to facilitate interoperability among smart home devices, mobile apps, and cloud services, employing a specific suite of IP-based networking technologies such as mDNS and

IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communication protocol, communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic ...

. By adhering to a network design that operates at the

Application Layer An application layer is an abstraction layer that specifies the shared communication protocols and interface methods used by hosts in a communications network. An ''application layer'' abstraction is specified in both the Internet Protocol Su ...

of the OSI 7 layer model, Matter differs from protocols like Zigbee or

Z-Wave Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol used primarily for residential and commercial building automation. It is a mesh network using low-energy radio waves to communicate from device to device, allowing for wireless control of smart home d ...

and theoretically can function on any IPv6-enabled network. Presently, official support is limited to

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

, and the wireless mesh network Thread.

Versions

Updates to the standard are planned to occur biannually. * Version 1.0 of the specification was published on 4 October 2022. It introduced support for lighting products (such as mains power plugs,

electric light Electric light is an artificial light source powered by electricity. Electric Light may also refer to: * Light fixture, a decorative enclosure for an electric light source * Electric Light (album), ''Electric Light'' (album), a 2018 album by James ...

s and

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

es), door locks,

thermostat A thermostat is a regulating device component which senses the temperature of a physical system and performs actions so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint. Thermostats are used in any device or system tha ...

s and

heating, ventilation, and air conditioning Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. H ...

controllers, blinds and shades, home security sensors (such as door, window and motion sensors), and televisions and streaming video players. * Version 1.1 of the specification was published on 18 May 2023. Although a new version, it did not include any new categories, only bug fixes and enhancements to existing SDK, API and devices. * Version 1.2 of the specification was published on 23 October 2023. This version added nine new device types (refrigerators, portable air conditioners, dishwashers, laundry washers, robotic vacuum cleaners, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, air quality sensors, air purifiers, and fans). It also provides revisions and additions to existing categories, improvements to the specification and SDK, and certification and testing tools. * Version 1.3 of the specification was published on 8 May 2024. This version added support for water and energy management devices as well as appliance support for ovens, microwave ovens, cooktops, extractor hoods, laundry dryers, and Matter-casting media players. Scenes and command-batching were also added. * Version 1.4 of the specification was released on 7 November 2024, introducing an expanded focus on electricity-related areas, including batteries, solar systems, home routers, water heaters, and heat pumps. It also featured enhancements to existing areas, such as increased support for electric vehicle chargers, along with significant improvements to Threads devices. * Version 1.4.1 of the specification was released on 7 May 2025. This minor version adds NFC onboarding and multi-device setup. For future versions, the working group has been working on support for ambient motion and presence sensing, environmental sensing and controls, closure sensors,

energy management Energy management includes planning and operation of energy production and energy consumption units as well as energy distribution and storage. Energy management is performed via Energy Management Systems (EMS), which are designed with hardware ...

, Wi-Fi access points, cameras, and

major appliance A major appliance is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking, washing laundry, or food preservation. Such appliances are sometimes collectively known as white goods, as the products were trad ...

Supported devices

CSA maintains the official list of Matter-certified products, and restricts use of the Matter logo to certified devices. Matter product certification is also stored on the CSA's Distributed Compliance Ledger (DCL), which publishes attestation information about certified devices.

Supported ecosystems and hubs

Benefits

The primary goal of Matter is to improve interoperability for the current smart home ecosystem. CSA and its members aim for the Matter logo to become ubiquitous and for consumers to instantly recognise it as a smart home device that will "just work". There are numerous other benefits that Matter brings when compared to the current smart home ecosystem: * Local control * Multi-admin control * More competition among smart home manufacturers * Lower technical overhead for IoT device developers

References

External links

* {{Comcast Amazon (company) Apple Inc. peripherals Google Comcast Computer-related introductions in 2019 Home automation